A Day Without Women

I don’t have red, but I will wear burgundy tomorrow, says the white middle class lady who is choosing to work rather than protest tomorrow. I was told to wear red if we couldn’t walk off the job.

If I walked off the job tomorrow, my husband would have to take the kids to school by 7:45 since he has to report to his job by 8. But we have no childcare there at 7:45. We do at 8:00. For one of them. Hmm. I’m sure my 7 year old boy could find something to do until 9:10. Maybe I don’t need to get up tomorrow.

If I walked off the job tomorrow, the admin at my church job would kill me, who’s also a woman. She was like, no way am I taking tomorrow off. We have too much to do, fund-raising messaging to craft, pledge cards to print, it’s that time of year. Time to hustle. Time to avail myself to donors so they can see that funding voluntary organizations that hold democratic values and traditions in high regard is a good bet. It may not just be a bet. It may be our best shot at saving America.

Liberal religious institutions are hardly the only ones who have the power to save – we are probably third in line in importance after civic and labor organizations, like the League of Women Voters or the ACLU. NDLON.

And once upon a time, there were those quaint ones, remember? Optimist, the American Legion, something about moose, and the Junior League are what come to mind. Not to say that they’re gone and wasted (as I used to call the old before I got old) – I’m a Soroptimist myself and I know we still do amazing work in the community. So does the Rotary Club. But for good work to continue we need new generations of bodies, and hardly any of my co-horts belong to clubs. I don’t know why. Clubs are awesome. Every now and then you get to party. Once all the good work is done, of course. You don’t think this hustler needs a drink every now and then?

The point is – I’m sorry I can’t report to the Day Without Women tomorrow. It’s supposed to be lovely weather here in LA! Instead, I’ll be trying to be a good minister, so we can have an awesome church, so the church can do good work in the world. The other point is – we should all support and participate in voluntary, community organizations that are offering a grassroots opportunity to change our collective circumstances, alter American history. You never know when you might be doing that – because it’s small groups of people (that get larger and larger) that alter history.

I’m super excited about POP! Pasadenans Organizing for Progress, one such burgeoning community org. We have our first big event coming up March 18. Don’t miss it – it’s a fantastically organized event that will plug your action into the deportation crisis so we the people can stop it. Here’s the flyer:

You can see there are opportunities in several ways to participate. Also check out our new web site.

To the women who are walking off the job tomorrow, you have more ovaries than I do. I know people are poking fun, saying this is a Day Without Women for the elites, who have more free time. But there may be an intrepid few who are more desperate to change the system than any white woman could ever understand, so much that they want to make a point to their boss. To them, I say, you go girl. You go woman. Do it and then make sure your story gets heard.

There are people trying to listen, and a rally is a place people can learn. BTW, the men are free to walk off the job, too, (but only tomorrow plz).